


the things reflected in the ferris wheel lights

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Blackmail, Bullying, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Is Gay, Family Issues, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hijinks & Shenanigans, Humor, Nonbinary Pidge | Katie Holt, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Child Abuse, Secrets, Slow Burn, Teen Angst, Teenage Drama, high school sucks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-26 09:34:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14997995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Keith's adjusting to life in a new house, going to a new school, and just trying to find something to call a family in this thing he calls his life. When he meets his neighbor Lance, they don't exactly have the best first impression. In fact, they kind of hate each other. So why does Keith feel like he cares so much about him? And why does he get so worried when he sees Lance hanging around with Lotor and his gang?(high school au? expect some kind of cliche high school tv show d r a m a, but also some hopefully less cliche, more original d r a m a)





	1. Meet Ugly

Keith's going to commit a homicide.

He makes up his mind when he gets back from the grocery store only to find that he can't pull into Shiro's driveway, because it's partially blocked by the neighbors fugly blue minivan again. That beat up old car has been obstructing the driveway at least two to three times a day all because  _someone_ next door doesn't know how to park. Or maybe just doesn't care. Because they've been parking the dumb old car on the sidewalk instead of their own damned driveway. Either way, when Keith gets his hands on whoever it is that's been doing it, he's literally going to kill them.

Alright, maybe he won't kill them. But he's definitely going to have a strongly worded discussion with them, for sure with a few choice swear words peppered in for effect. And then if that doesn't work. Then he might just kill them.

For now he just parks his car at the curb, gets out, and then rounds to the trunk to retrieve the groceries. He's been staying in Shiro's house for the past few months rent free, he figures the least he can do is help out with the shopping every now and then. Not that he told Shiro that's where he was going before leaving, because naturally, Shiro would've objected to the idea entirely. 

He pops the trunk open and puts his arms through the handles of the first few bags, before grabbing the others to carry in his arms. It's maybe not the easiest way to carry in all of the groceries, but he plans on dying before he'll take more than one trip to bring all the groceries inside. 

All the bags in hand, he somehow manages to close the trunk and then starts towards Shiro's porch. His vision is, understandably, more than a little obstructed by the groceries and of course, because the fates can't stand him for some reason, he trips on the curb on his way up. What's more, he just so happens to do this right as some guy is opening the front door to The Dreaded Minivan--some dude about Keith's age, dressed in a denim jacket and a backwards baseball cap--and Keith almost barrels directly into the guy. He narrowly avoids knocking the stranger over, catching himself just before he can slam into him.

Physics being the asshole it is, Keith doesn't get so lucky with the grocery bags. With the sudden stop, some of their contents are projectile launched out of the bag, and directly into the back of the guy's head.

It's not all of them, at least. It's really just the box of Swedish Fish. And the paper towel roll, and the bananas. Oh, and also the box of Pop Tarts. Yeah not that much.

"Dude, what the fuck?" The guy says, sounding more confused than he does angry, one hand flying up to the back of his neck. Keith notices that the baseball cap has MERMAID OFF DUTY printed across it.

He turns around and narrows his eyes at Keith, and Keith is met with an unfortunately incredibly handsome face. One with deep blue eyes, a smattering of freckles across sunkissed brown skin, and a mouth that has dimples when it smiles. Unfortunate not because it's totally awkward that Keith hit a handsome dude with groceries, or even because the handsome face belongs to the asshole dickhead who's been obstructing the driveway. No, it's unfortunate because the face belongs to the asshole dickhead that Keith recognizes from school. 

Keith only transferred about a month ago, so he hasn't learned that many faces yet. But he's sure he could never forget this one. Not even because it's such a good looking face (Did Keith mention the guy's handsome?) but because it's the face of that loud mouth, arrogant, class clown. Sure they've never actually spoken before, but Keith had been hoping to keep it that way.

Keith sighs, "Lance."

"Are you throwing groceries at me? What the hell did I do to you?" Lance asks, and Keith can't tell if he's angry, offended, or just confused. Probably a combination of all three. "Hang on, I know you. It's Keith, right?"

"Yeah, it's Keith. And it was an accident," Keith says, trying somewhat unsuccessfully to keep the tone of irritation out of his voice.

"Really? You accidentally hit me in the head with--Wait, what did you hit me with?" He looks down to the floor, where Keith's escaped groceries now reside, and bends down to inspect them, picking them up one at a time. "Candy? Paper towels? Bananas, and Pop Tarts. Ouch, dude. What the hell?"

"I swear it wasn't on purpose," Keith tries again. Lance just rolls his eyes, putting the groceries carefully back into Keith's bags, then turning back towards that offensive minivan--because seriously, if you're going to obstruct the driveway all the time, you could at least do it with a better looking car. But falsely accused grocery attack or not, Keith's not about to let the criminal that's been making Keith late for stuff with his terrible parking get away so easily. He clears his throat and says, "Actually while I've got you here, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Lance pauses with his hand halfway towards the door handle, then shrugs and turns back to look at Keith, jamming his hands into his jacket pockets. "Sure, I guess. What's up, man?"

"I'm just gonna be frank here," Keith says, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Alright, maybe he should've waited to call out his terrible neighbor until a time when he wasn't holding an unreasonable amount of bags in his hands. "Your parking sucks."

Lance pulls a face like Keith just insulted his entire family or something and replies, "It does not, I'm a fantastic driver. Maybe your parking sucks. Did you think of that?"

"My parking is--Look, I'm not the one parking my car on the sidewalk all the time!"

"I don't park on the sidewalk  _all the time_ ," Lance says, his eyebrows scrunching together angrily. "And anyway, who are you to tell me about bad parking. Look at your car, it's like two feet away from the curb. That can't be safe parking."

Keith glances over his shoulder at his car quickly before turning back to Lance. "Dude, my car's like a foot away from the curb at most. Not even."

"Disagree."

"You can't just disagree with a fact!"

"Oh, but you just throw groceries at your neighbors because you don't like their parking? Is that it?"

"I didn't throw them--" Keith starts, cutting himself off halfway because he really can't see this guy listening to him in the first place. He adjusts his hold on the grocery bags and turns away to head back inside. "Y'know what? I don't have time for this."

Keith's hands are full, so he kicks the door a few times to knock instead of unlocking it. A few seconds later Shiro opens the door, then immediately reaches out to take a couple of the bags from Keith's arms. Then he steps to the side so Keith can walk in, and the both of them kick the door shut with the heels of their feet, starting towards the kitchen together. As they pass through the living room, Keith notices Matt lounging on the couch, PS4 controller set aside and cell phone in hand. The t.v. screen is paused on a round of Mortal Kombat.

As they drop the grocery bags onto the counter Shiro says, "You seem like you're in a great mood. What happened?"

"Nothing," Keith says with a huff. To which Shiro just raises an eyebrow, and Keith shakes his head as he starts grabbing things from the bags to put them away. "I just bumped into one of the neighbor's outside and, well, it didn't go well."

Shiro laughs, taking the milk jug out of the bags and opening the refrigerator door to put it away. "Let me guess. It was Lance."

"How did you know?"

"I know my neighbors," Shiro says. Then, while the fridge is open, he shouts towards the living room, "Hey Matt! You want a soda or something while I'm in here?"

"You don't have Pepsi," is all Matt responds, sounding more offended than anyone has any right to be over a brand of soda.

"I have Coke," Shiro answers.

"Heathen!"

"I just think if you're going to be driving," Keith says as he puts the tortilla chips away in the cupboard. "That you should be able to understand to park in your own damn driveway. I mean, it's not even that hard."

"Wait, that's why you hate the neighbors?" Shiro asks, raising his eyebrows like he's shocked. Keith assumed it would've been obvious, seeing as Shiro's probably been putting up with them parking in his driveway way longer than Keith has. Apparently he was wrong. Shiro shakes his head as he closes the fridge and says, "I told Lance he could use the driveway every now and then."

Keith just blinks at him.

"Why would want him blocking your driveway?"

"Well it was before I had your car here too," Shiro says with a shrug. "I'm not home that often. And besides, Lance has a big family, and they can't use their garage 'cause they converted it to a bedroom, so their driveway's usually full. I figured since mine wasn't, it wouldn't be that big of a problem if the McClain's used it every now and then."

Keith just blinks at him again. He keeps just blinking at him for a few more seconds, trying to process this information, then sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "You could've told me that before I got in a fight with the neighbor."

Shiro chuckles before heading back into the living room, and after Keith puts one more thing away he follows him. They both drop onto the couch, and Matt passes Shiro back his controller, setting his phone aside to pick his own back up as well. They resume their game and Shiro's gaze is fixed on the screen, but he asks Keith, "You really got this mad about parking?"

"No, it wasn't just parking," Keith says. "It was also this convoluted misunderstanding and now Lance thinks I was throwing groceries at him. Which doesn't even make sense, because why would you buy groceries just to throw them at your neighbors? But whatever."

"Lance can be kind of dramatic," Shiro says, as if Keith needs to be told as much. He figured that one out himself after having one class with the guy. "But he's a good kid, he's just had a tough go of it lately. Give him another chance, okay?"

Much as Keith doesn't want to do that, he mostly trusts Shiro's judgement, so he resentfully murmurs, "I'll try."

"That's all anyone can do," Shiro says.

"You're disturbingly well adjusted."

"You'd be surprised."

After that the conversation just dissolves into Matt and Shiro trying to trash talk each other while playing their game--trying, because neither of them are particularly good at it. Well, Keith's seen Shiro be good at trash talking before, he just likes Matt too much to be able to come up with anything bad about him. It might be cute if it wasn't so gross. But Keith doesn't really know Matt well enough to know whether he has the same issue, or if he just can't shit talk to save his life. Whichever it is, he certainly has no qualms about kicking Shiro's digital ass.

Keith digs around in his pocket and pulls out his phone, checking his messages. There's a little 4 in a bubble above the texting app, and Keith taps it, already having a pretty good suspicion who the messages are from.

Sure enough, there are three new messages from Pidge--Keith met them through Matt, they're two grades younger than Keith is, but they're his first (and thus far, only) friend at the high school now that he's transferred. On an unrelated note, Pidge is also a terrible no good spam texter, and Keith doesn't think that they've ever sent him just one text at a time. He opens the messages and they read:

_P: keith_

_P: hey keith_

_P: hey keith answer ur texts_

_P: KEEF UR A TERRIBLE FREN IF U DON"T ANSWER UR TEXTS RN_

Keith chuckles and presses the reply button, simply typing back:

_K: ???_

Because he's eloquent like that. His response didn't need to be worded well really, because Pidge just wanted confirmation that he was there before launching into whatever it was they wanted to tell him. They're answer back is almost instantaneous.

_P: GUESS WHAT KEEF_

_K: i'm not engaging until u spell my name right_

_P: GUESS WHAT K E I T H_

_K: WHAT?!?!_

_P: I MADE ROBOTICS TEAM FOR NEXT SEMETSER ALKJDSDKL_

_P: THEY NEVER LET FRESHMAN JOIN_

_K: N I C E_

_K: it's because freshmen r gremlins. yr also a gremlin, yr just a smarter one than the rest of them_

_P: i'm 2 excitement 2 answer the gremlin comment but_

_P: THANKS_

_K: come over for dinner. ur bro's already here, we can celebrate_

_P: OK_

Keith rolls his eyes affectionately, then slips his phone back into his pocket, turning his attention back to the television screen. From the looks of it, Shiro's winning this round. That is, until he sneezes, which gives Matt's avatar the perfect opportunity to suplex Shiro's into oblivion. It's a victory that's followed by Matt jumping up and doing three laps around the coffee table while chanting a bunch of nonsense about being the champion, and "Take that, Takashi!" and all that nonsense.

To his credit, Shiro just watches Matt do his victory dance with a sappy smile on his face, laughing at the shenanigans. It's honestly disgusting, and they should keep their lovestruck bullshit to themselves. 

When Matt's finally done gloating--and Keith's starting to wonder whether or not Shiro let him win--he flops heavily back onto the couch, taking his controller back in hand and turning to look over at Shiro. "Ready to lose another round?"

"As much as I definitely wouldn't lose," Shiro says, setting his controller on the arm of the couch and getting to his feet. "I gotta start cooking dinner. Try kicking Keith's ass."

"I can do the cooking," Keith says, getting up off the couch as well.

"Are you sure? You already got the groceries, I mean."

"Yeah, but you've been on your feet at work all day," Keith says. Which is only half of his reasoning, but he's not about to bring up the whole feeling like he's already been too much trouble for Shiro already crap again. Especially not with company around. Shiro seems to be almost buying it, thought, because he's hovering halfway between the couch and the kitchen with a skeptical look on his face. Keith adds, "Besides, I got the groceries, so I already know what we have the ingredients to cook."

Shiro narrows his eyes slightly and repeats, "You sure?"

Keith laughs and starts towards the kitchen himself. "Totally. Plus, I don't think Matt'll be too happy if I beat him at Mortal Kombat."

Keith and Shiro both laugh as Shiro heads back to his place on the cough. Keith can hear Matt's protesting as he walks into the next room. As an afterthought he shouts, "Oh! By the way, Pidge is coming over for dinner!"

He hears Shiro shout back, "If they hadn't been over every other night the past week, I might thank you for the warning!"

"Shut up," Keith replies half-heartedly, opening a couple of cupboards to root around for the ingredients for dinner. 

Then, as if one cue, the doorbell rings. Keith hears someone getting up to go and answer the door, then he hears a faint, "Oh, hi Pidge! Come on in!" Keith can hear the door shutting from the kitchen, and then he hears Shiro's voice saying, "Keith's in the kitchen getting dinner ready."

"Thanks Shiro," Pidge answers, and a second later they're greeting Keith with a friendly punch in the arm, and hopping up to sit on top of the kitchen counter. 

Keith raises an eyebrow at them as he sets a pot of water on top of the stove, grabbing the bag of pasta and pouring it in. "You're not immediately exploding them with the news? What's that about?"

"Oh! Shit! Right!" They jump off of the counter, almost falling with the haste of their action, and sprint back into the living room. Keith hears Matt grumbling about the screen being blocked, and Keith can just picture Pidge doing the same laps around the living room that their brother had been doing just moments before. The Holts are a really excitable family, Keith's noticed. Pidge practically shouts, "I almost forgot to tell you! Can you believe I almost forgot to tell you! I'm so excited I almost forgot! You would've just found at later and been like, Pidge? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Hey Pidge," Shiro interrupts their rambling. "What did you want to tell us?"

"Right!" God, Pidge can yell really loud when they want to. Or maybe when they don't want to, Keith's not sure Pidge has the best volume control. "I made Robotics Team! I'm the first freshmen  _ever_ to make the team!"

"Pidge that's so cool!" Apparently yelling loud is another Holt family trait.

"That's awesome, Pidge," Keith hears Shiro's voice say, and he can just picture the proud little grin. Shiro might even have gotten up to put a hand on Pidge's shoulder. "All that hard work paid off. You deserve to make the team, that's for sure."

"Seconded!" Matt says. And if the slight shaking of the house is anything to go by, both the Holt siblings are now jumping up and down enthusiastically. "Oh, Pidgeon this is the best! You'll be team captain by junior year at the latest! I'm so proud of you! Have you told mom and dad yet? They're gonna be so excited. I'm so excited. You're so excited!"

They go on like that for a few more minutes, and then Pidge reappears back in the kitchen, reclaiming their spot on top of the kitchen counter. Keith shoots them a little smile while he stirs the pasta. Pidge swings their legs back and forth, obviously still bursting with energy from the excitement in the living room. "Hey, you know, we're all really proud of you, Pidge."

He really is. Which he has to admit he's kind of surprised by. Lately he hasn't exactly been the most trusting guy, especially of new people. He could get along with Shiro because they'd know each other for years, but the Holts he'd only known for about two months. And yet somehow Pidge, and to a lesser extent Matt, had been able to worm their way into Keith's heart. Keith was already ready to kick anyone's ass at school if they gave Pidge shit for anything, and he knew Pidge already had a pretty good support system, but he was ready to support them and make sure they were happy. And high school wasn't so bad when he had sitting next to them in art class to look forward to. 

Pidge practically beams. "Thanks, Keith. So what've you been up to, anyway?"

"Oh, this and that," Keith says, shrugging. "Finished some homework, did some grocery shopping, got in a fight with the neighbor in the driveway. Y'know, nothing all that interesting."

"Dude, you got in a fight with the neighbor? Which one?"

"In my defense, he started it. Kind of," Keith says, earning a skeptical look from Pidge. He set the spoon down next to the stove to look at Pidge and elaborate, "I was bringing in the groceries and I tripped, right? And then some of the groceries spill, and hit this guy, and he just  _assumes_ that I was throwing them at him. On purpose. As if I would spend good money on food just so I could throw it at complete strangers. Then I'm like, oh while you're here--and keep in mind, Shiro never told me he told the McClain's they could use his driveway--I'm like, while you're here, you're a shitty driver. Or a shitty parker, anyway."

Pidge interrupts him with a laugh, or more like a guffaw. "Oh no! I mean, so it was just a string of misunderstandings, right? The neighbors forgave you?"

Keith opens his mouth to reply, then closes it again, turning to pick the spoon back up and stir the pasta some more. He only does it for half a second before turning back to Pidge and saying, "I didn't think to apologize."

"Keith!"

"What? He was driving away when it happened anyway, and besides, he was kind of a jerk about it." Keith checks on the sauce that's cooking in a separate pot, lowering the temperature on that burner a little. "I mean, sure I was a jerk. But he was also a jerk. And I was the one who was misinformed, so he really doesn't have that much of an excuse does he."

"Sure, but you're gonna be neighbors for awhile. Might not be the best first impression."

"When have I ever made a good first impression?"

"Fair enough," Pidge answers with a little shrug. "I think the first time I said hi to you, you answered with 'What do you want?' So..."

"And we're friends now, just proves how unimportant first impressions are."

"Which neighbor was it again?"

"Lance."

Pidge laughs again, clapping their hands a couple of times. "I should've guessed. God, he's such a drama queen. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love him. I love him a lot. But he's so dramatic."

"Remove the part about loving him, and I agree completely," Keith says with a sigh. The pasta's almost done, so he pokes his head into the living room quickly to ask, "Hey! Dinner's almost done, you guys wanna set the table real quick?"

"Sure, just let us finish this round," Matt replies.

"Right, what was I saying?" Keith asks when he returns to Pidge and the stove. "Oh, yeah! So but when I commented on his parking, instead of just telling me Shiro gave him permission to use the driveway, he just gets all defensive, and then starts saying I can't drive 'cause I park too far away from the curb. Which, one, not true. And two, you could've avoided all of this if you just told me Shiro gave you permission to use his driveway!"

Pidge is still laughing while Shiro and Matt come into the kitchen, retrieving a collection of bowls and silverware to take into the dining room and set the table. Then Matt grabs a bunch of cups, while Shiro goes to the fridge to grab the drinks. He pulls out the jug of iced tea without even needing Keith to ask, then looks over his shoulder and says, "Holt siblings! What are you drinking?"

"Pidge, if you say milk you're leaving this house right now," Keith teases.

"Milk," Pidge says, looking Keith directly in the eye.

"That's it," Keith says, starting towards Pidge as if to fight them. But Pidge is no coward and just squares the fuck up. They play wrestle for a moment before Keith is able to pick them up, throwing them over his shoulder and carrying them out of the kitchen, as if he's actually going to throw them out of the house. While he walks says, "I gave you fair warning. Now you're banished."

"I never granted you banishing authority," Shiro's voice calls from back in the kitchen. "Put them down at the table."

"Fiiiiiine," Keith groans, changing direction and carrying Pidge over to the dining room table instead. He sets them down and pulls out their chair, narrowing his eyes while they sit down and whispering, "But you're on thin fucking ice."

Over dinner they tell each other stories and make a lot of jokes and laugh a lot, and it's actually really nice, and Keith finds himself thinking once again about how grateful he is that he had Shiro in his life. Sure he's still not entirely happy in life right now, but realistically he knows that if Shiro hadn't been around for him, he'd be somewhere else right now, significantly lonelier and less happy than he is. And besides, then he wouldn't have Pidge and Shiro to make that unavoidable unhappiness just a little more bearable. 

When they're done with dinner they all end up taking turns at Mortal Kombat, which is unfortunate because, as good as Keith considers himself to be at the game, there's probably no one better than the Holt siblings at, well,  _most_ video games. So it results in a lot of losses for Keith and Shiro.

But after awhile Matt and Pidge both have to take off. They all exchange goodbyes at the doorway, then get distracted talking about something else, then exchange another set of goodbyes, then go through the process one more time before the Holts finally get into Matt's car and drive away. Then Keith and Shiro go back inside, closing the front door behind them and heading back into the living room. The house does feel a lot quieter without their presence, a lot more still. 

Shiro picks up the remote and shuts off the t.v, then collects the glasses of water and soda cans scattered around the room to put away in the kitchen. When he walks back in he says, "I'm gonna hit the hay."

"Alright, goodnight," Keith says, dropping back onto the couch.

"You should get some sleep, too," he can practically hear the concerned look on Shiro's face. "Don't you have school tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I just have some homework to finish," Keith tells him. Then without thinking he asks, "What'd you mean earlier? When you said Lance just had a tough go of it lately?"

He wasn't even aware that had been bothering him until he asked, but once the question's out, Keith realizes it's kind of been at the back of his mind since Shiro said it. He doesn't know why. He doesn't like Lance, and he's certainly not worried about him. But Pidge said they love him, and Shiro said he's a good kid. Keith supposes he just cares because they do. 

Shiro frowns, like he's not sure how to answer. Then he shrugs and says, "It's a long story. But he really is a good kid. Actually, I think the two of you could be good friends if you weren't both so stubborn."

Keith just rolls his eyes at that, picking his backpack up from the floor beside the couch to dig out his homework. "Goodnight Shiro."

"Night, Keith," Shiro says, heading up the stairs towards his room.

When Shiro's gone the house really is quiet. Keith pulls a notebook and pen out of his backpack, taking out the bio worksheet that he meant to do earlier that morning, but never got around to. Some stuff had just seemed more important at the time. Like, literally everything else.

He takes his phone back out, putting in a pair of earbuds and opening up one of those Spotify focussing playlists, just to see if it'll help. It doesn't, because the music kind of just makes him feel like he's falling asleep, so he just switches to one of his older playlists instead. He picks up his pen and gets to work bullshitting answers about how mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.

But his thoughts just kept drifting back towards Lance. Why does Pidge love him so much, if they think he's so annoying? Does Shiro really think they could ever be friends? What did Shiro mean, that he'd had a rough go of it lately?

Not that he cares, of course, because he hates Lance.


	2. Just Getting Bi

Keith ends up staying up a little too late into the night working on his homework, but by some miracle of willpower, he manages to pull himself out of bed when the alarm on the nightstand goes off in the morning. Well, when it goes off the third time that is, he ends up snoozing it the first two. 

Even after he's awake he just sits up in bed and stares unseeing at the wall for a good couple of minutes, trying to wake the hell up. It doesn't entirely work but whatever. He rubs his eyes with the heel of his palms, eventually swinging his legs over the side of the bed, and getting up to get ready for school. Although mostly he just wants to get there so he can fall asleep in first period.

Once he's dressed in the first t-shirt off the floor that doesn't smell bad, he shoots a glance over at the alarm clock and realizes he's going to be late. Again. "Shit," he says under his breath, scrambling out of the room he's been staying in, then doubling back to snatch his jacket from the foot of the bed, and starting for the door again. He shouts, "Shiro, is the coffee maker on?"

On his way out he trips on that lump in the carpet that he can never seem to remember is there--maybe someday he'll get used to it. He's not met with a response as he starts down the stairs, and he opens his mouth to ask again in case Shiro hadn't heard, but he stops when he sees Shiro standing at the bottom of the staircase. 

"You were saying something about coffee?" Shiro says, holding a red Thermos out in Keith's direction.

"Thank you," Keith says. Maybe he can be at least almost on time after all. He accepts the caffeinated offering but instead of drinking it he just hugs it, absorbing the warmth with a relieved sigh.

"You had more homework than you let on, huh?" Shiro asks, though Keith doubts he needs to confirm, as he heads back into the living room, picking his own mug up off of the coffee table. The mug has the words Shit Happens on it, which is true enough, but Keith's always wondered who bought it for Shiro. "You seem more tired than usual. Which is saying something."

"Shut up."

"Point made."

"I'm gonna go," Keith says, mostly entirely unhappy about this fact. He grabs his backpack up off the floor, then starts for the front door, pausing for a second to shout over his shoulder, "Thanks again for the coffee! Bye Shiro!"

He hears Shiro answer, "Have a good day at school!"

Yeah. That'll be the day.

Keith doesn't end up being more than two minutes late for school, technically. But he's stopped after the first three seconds he's on campus by the dean, Miss Jones, because of the school's dumb and kind of counterintuitive policy on tardies. Then they make him wait in a line with the rest of the late kids until they can print out a tardy pass to give him, and he ends up being at least another ten minutes later than he would've been initially. With a huff he accepts the tardy pass handed to him, then takes his time heading up the stairs to his first period class.

"Mr. Kogane," Mrs. Meltzer says when his attempt to quietly sneak in the back door of the classroom fails. "How nice of you to join us this morning. Tardy pass?"

"Sorry, Mrs. Meltzer. My alarm didn't go off," Keith says, which is entirely untrue, as he hands the pass to her. She just immediately throws it away. Typical.

He suppresses an eye roll until his back is to her, heading to the back of the room once more and dropping heavily into his desk. He sets his Thermos and backpack down on the floor by his foot, then slumps forward, burying his head in his arms on the desk. It's not like anyone can actually fall asleep with all of the noise surrounding the classroom--Mrs. Meltzer's never been the best at keeping her students quiet--but at the very least he can shut his eyes and be half asleep, which at this point is good enough.

The bell rings after what feels like no time, and then it's second period Chemistry, which Keith also sleeps through. By the time he makes it to third period Art, though, he's feeling much more awake.

He takes his seat closest to the door a minute or so before the bell is supposed to ring, and Pidge shows up a few seconds after, plopping into the chair next to him. They just casually throw their backpack on the floor, glancing over at Keith and asking, "What are we doing today?"

"I dunno." Keith shrugs. "Art?"

"Har har," Pidge says, digging around in their bag to pull out a beat up sketchbook. "Are we still on perspectives or can we move the fuck on? I don't think I can stand to draw another cube."

"I think we're starting self portraits," Allura answers out of nowhere, as she drops into the seat beside Pidge.

"I'll take the cubes, thanks," Keith says.

The bell rings and their teacher passes around sketching paper, explaining that, sure enough, they're starting self portraits today. Once everyone in the room has paper, their teacher passes around these shitty busted up mirrors that are just duct taped to other mirrors so that they're two sided. Keith gets up and moves go sit on the opposite side of the table from Pidge so they can, unfortunately, begin their self portraits.

Keith, Pidge, and Allura take out their pencils but none of them actually start drawing. Pidge points their pencil at Keith and says, "Hey tell Allura what happened with Lance yesterday."

"First, no I'm not telling that story again," Keith says, snacking Pidge's pencil away from him. "And second, oh my god, why does  _everyone_ know Lance?"

"I don't know about everyone," Allura says with a laugh. "But the three of us went to middle school together."

"Keith's just mad because Lance parked in his driveway because Shiro said he could, but Shiro didn't tell Keith he said he could, so Keith threw groceries at him. Lance, not Shiro."

"You threw groceries at him for parking in the wrong driveway?" Allura asks, eyes widening.

"I didn't throw anything at him," Keith says, shooting a glare at Pidge, who just laughs. He shakes his head then turns back to Allura and explains, "It was a misunderstanding, 'cause I tripped and they fell out of the bag and he happened to be there. But now he's convinced I threw them at him, so."

"Well maybe if it didn't sound so much like something you'd do," Pidge remarks.

Keith was up his sketchpaper into a ball and throws it at Pidge, and the paper bounces off of their nose onto the table, and then down onto the floor. Pidge feigns being scandalized by this, and Allura leans forward and says, "Well now you've just proven their point. And also ruined your sketch paper."

"It would've been ruined worse if I tried to draw on--" Keith says, cutting himself off as Pidge picks the paper up off the floor and throws it back at Keith. 

"Alright, that's enough throwing things," Mr. Mannings says from the front of the room, just as Keith is picking the paper back up to retaliate. 

Keith's not really thinking--although it's possible if it were a teacher he liked more than Mr. Mannings he might not do it--and while he's looking directly at Mr. Mannings he just picks the ball of paper back up, and throws it at Pidge again. Keith wasn't trying to be funny really, but a majority of the class, especially Pidge, bursts into laughter. Manning, on the hand, looks like a vain is about to burst and he points at the door, saying, "Out. Now."

With a sigh Keith grabs his bag off the floor, then scoots his chair out to leave. Through their manic giggling Pige whispers, "Bye Keith. Rest in pieces."

Keith scoffs as he slips out the door, then pauses once it's shut behind him. Mr. Manning had told him to leave, but he didn't tell him where to go. Is he just expecting Keith to sit outside in the hall for the rest of the period? If so, how did that man become a high school teacher? Keith stands there for another few seconds then shrugs and figures he could go sit outside the building, because at least there's reception there. 

He doesn't get more than a single step before the door opens again, and Mr. Manning steps out. He hands Keith a slip of paper, and one of the mirrors. With an almost comical scowl he says, "Detention. In the meanwhile, you can sit out here and do your self portrait by. Yourself. I'll be expecting the mirror back by the end of the period, so don't wander too far."

The second the door is shut again Keith shrugs and makes his way out of the hallway, sitting down by the doorway outside of the building. He sets the mirror and his backpack down on the floor next to him, leans against the wall, and takes out his phone. 

When the bell rings and the period ends, Keith gets up and walks back, setting the mirror down on the first table in the classroom and then walking out again with Pidge and Allura. The three of them shoulder their backpacks and start towards the cafeteria for lunch, with Pidge and Allura laughing to Keith about how mad Mr. Mannings was after Keith was gone. Pidge does a pretty good impression when they say, "He was like, 'No one knows how to respect other people these days. None of you respect me, none of you respect each other.'"

"Then he said everyone who laughed is probably gonna be either drug addicts or homeless later," Allura adds. "I thought that vein on the side of his head was gonna finally burst."

"It was a single piece of paper," Keith says, laughing. He might not think it was so funny, after all a lot of kids did tend to be needlessly mean to teachers, and Keith didn't usually approve. That said, Mr. Mannings was needlessly cruel to students, so Keith wasn't too worried about it this time.

They make it to the cafeteria, wait in line to get their food, and then walk out to sit on the bleachers by the football field, because the cafeteria's always too loud and crowded.

"I can talk to Lance later, if you want," Allura says. "Maybe clear up that misunderstanding."

"It's fine," Keith says.

"Keith thinks Lance is annoying anyway," Pidge tells Allura. And when Keith shoots them a look they say to him, "What? Those were your exact words. Were they not?"

"No, I get it," Allura says. She pauses to take a sip from her water bottle before continuing, "If you don't know him that well, he can kind of seem very full of himself. But I guarantee that if you give him a chance, he's actually a really good friend. He was there for me when...Well, when I needed a friend."

It kind of sounds like there's a story there, but Allura's choosing not to tell it, so Keith doesn't press. He takes a bite of his sandwich and says, "That's kinda what people keep telling me."

"We're right," Pidge says.

"I'll try and explain to him later," Keith says, shrugging. "I mean, we're gonna be neighbors for awhile anyway. It's probably best that we don't start off hating each other."

Lunch flies by, and after that so does fourth, fifth, and sixth period. When the bell of freedom rings Keith almost gets excited, before remembering that he's stupid and he has to go to detention now. As he gets up to head down to the where detention's held in the health classroom, he takes his phone out of his pocket to send a quick text to Shiro, letting him know he'll be home a little later than usual. Considering this isn't exactly the first time Keith's gotten himself detention he figures Shiro probably won't be too surprised. Keith pockets his phone and makes his way down to the health room.

"Mr. Kogane, isn't it nice to see you again," Ms. Jones says, glancing up at him before looking down at a paper in front of her and scribbling something down quickly, probably that Keith showed up like he was supposed to. "I don't know what your old school was like, but you have a fresh start here. You might want to take things a little more seriously."

"You don't know anything about me," Keith grumbles, not really caring if she hears him, as he sits down in the desk furthest from hers.

"Attitude like that, I'm not surprised you're back in detention," she answers.

Keith just sighs and takes his notebook out of his backpack. They're technically not supposed to be doing anything while they're in detention at all, but he figures he can get at least a little homework done before he gets caught. Which, honestly, he gets it's detention but it's ridiculous that Ms. Jones gets mad at then for doing their homework. It seems kind of hypocritical if you ask Keith. No one asks Keith.

He looks up when he hears someone talk again, even thought it's not to him. Ms. Jones is saying, "Mr. McClain, welcome back. Here I thought you were doing better this semester, and then I get an e-mail from--"

"So if you're done gloating about me getting detention, I'm gonna go sit down now," Lance says, and Keith can't help but laugh at the indignation on Ms. Jones face.

He catches Lance rolling his eyes as he turns away from Ms. Jones desk to go find a desk to sit in, and then his gaze finds Keith sitting in the back of the room, and Keith's not quick enough to pretend he wasn't looking so they end up making awkward eye contact. Keith tries giving him a half smile, to show that he's not still mad--even if he is, at least a little, still mad. Okay, more like annoyed--but it doesn't seem to work, because Lance just sighs and goes to sit in an empty desk on the opposite side of the room. He's in the desk for like five seconds before he just slumps forward face first into the desk. 

A few more students file in, and Ms. Jones makes some passive aggressive comment to most of them about getting detention. Keith doesn't recognize most of them, and the ones he does recognize he doesn't really know. But there is one girl with a brightly colored ponytail who seems to recognize Lance, because when she goes to find a seat and her eyes light upon his desk she heads over to sit next to him, enthusiastically greeting him, "Lance! Oh my god, I haven't seen you in forever, where you been?"

Lance lifts his head up off the desk, but he doesn't seem as happy to see her as she is to see him. "Oh, hey Ezor. Yeah I guess I've just been busy."

"With what?" The girl, Ezor, scoffs. "What've you been doing?"

"Mostly? Avoiding you and Lotor," Lance says, nodding.

"Wow, McClain, and here I thought you only hated me," someone else says, taking the desk in front of Lance. The guy turns to look at Ezor, holding out a hand towards her and saying, "Hi there. I'm Rolo. You are?"

"Can I just have detention in peace," Lance asks, dropping his head back onto the desk.

Which, honestly, the longer detention goes on the more questions Keith has. If Lance is really as great of a guy as all Keith's friends have been making him out to be, what's up with a) the detention, b) that comment about avoiding someone named Lotor of all dumbass names, and c) two--or three, if Keith counts himself--of the seven other kids in detention hating him? 

Lance opens his mouth to say something else, but Ms. Jones cuts him off before he can. She clears her throat, shooting a pointed look to their corner and saying, "No talking. This is detention, not a social event."

The two of them go quiet, and Keith turns his attention back to the homework he's trying to finish. His focus keeps drifting away though, as he can't help but glance over at Lance, Rolo, and Ezor out of the corner of his eye. He knows it's none of his business and maybe he's just being nosey, but he really wants to know what. That whole conversation was about. The History homework he's got in front of him isn't exactly riveting, and it is detention after all. Keith thinks it's reasonable to be a little, or a lot bored, and maybe distracted.

By some stroke of luck, Ms. Jones doesn't end up catching him doing homework. That or she just doesn't care today for whatever reason.

Either way, after the mandatory hour she says the kids are free to go. Keith was thinking now might be a good time to clarify yesterday's misunderstanding with Lance, but Keith's barely out of his desk before Lance is out of the room, along with the rest of the detention kids. Keith just sighs and puts his History homework back into his bag, slinging it over his shoulders and heading out.

When he makes it out into the parking lot he notices the same blue minivan that recognizes as belonging to the McClain family. Lance is standing around the car but not getting in; when Keith gets a little closer he spots Rolo and two other guys he doesn't recognize standing around in the parking lot too, Rolo leaning against the driver's door to Lance's car. 

Admittedly he's kind of nosey again, and Keith slows down a little bit away. He's done enough eavesdropping already today, what's a little more? That's some good logic, right?

"Alright, you wanna move so I can get in my car? I have to be somewhere like, five minutes ago," Lance says, motioning for them to move.

"We just wanted to ask you a couple questions," Rolo says, making no move to walk away from Lance's car.

"Not this again," is Lance's answer, so Keith can only assume they've bothered him before. Lance runs a hand through his hair--is now the time for Keith to notice how soft it looks? Probably not--and takes a half a step closer to them. "Look, can't you wait to harass me about this until tomorrow? I have to get my sister from her soccer practice, seriously."

"We'll be quick," one of Rolo's friends, with blonde hair and a Thrasher tee, says.

Rolo nods and then asks, "I just gotta know, 'cause I got this date later, right? And I figured, Lance is gay, he can help me. So d'you think I'd look sexier if I wore the black t-shirt, or the purple one?"

"Rolo, I don't think there's a shirt in the world that could make you look sexy. And I'm not gay, I'm bi. Can I get in my car now?"

"Oh! Because you'd rather see him without the shirt, right?" Rolo's brunette friend asks.

The other friend leans forward and asks, "Hang on. But don't you just  _say_ you're bi, because you're actually just gay but you thought being bi would make you look more normal?"

"No, I say I'm bi because I'm bi."

"Okay but can I just clarify," the one in the Thrasher tee asks, leaning against the car next to Rolo. "I'm way hotter than Rolo, right? Actually, of the three of us, which one would you rather fuck?"

"That's a pretty gay question to ask, don't you think?" Lance says.

"Do you want me to kick your ass, McClain?"

Rolo's friends opens their mouths to say something else, probably some other incredibly ignorant remark, but really Keith's heard enough. He doesn't really think before he starts over towards Lance's car, and Rolo and his friends seem a little surprised, like they probably thought no one else was around. Lance must see the surprise on their expressions, because he turns to see what they're looking at, and when he spots Keith he just sighs and grumbles, "Great, just what I need right now."

Keith ignores that, because he's kind of more focussed on Rolo's group right now. He stops next to Lance and says, "Are you guys just about done being ignorant dicks? Because I'm pretty sure he said he has someplace to be."

"Awww, and who are you? His boyfriend?"

"No," Keith says. "I'm just the guy who's going to kick your heads in if you don't scram and let Lance get in his god damn car. I'm sure there're plenty of other places for you to go be fuckheads. It's a big town."

Rolo steps forward like he's considering Keith's offer of a fight, but he seems to decide being a bigoted asshole isn't worth it at the moment, because he steps back and nods to his friends, starting across the parking lot towards their own cars. Keith only waits until he's sure they're leaving to start walking away himself, but he pauses when he hears Lance clear his throat and call, "Hey, Mullet!"

Keith turns back around and raises an eyebrow. "What?"

"I don't need someone else to fight my battles for me," Lance says, like he's actually pissed at Keith for stepping in. But then his expression softens and he adds, "But thanks anyway."

Keith doesn't really know what to answer that with and he falters for a second before saying, "Y'know I wasn't throwing my groceries at you."

"Whatever you say," Lance answers, turning to his car, unlocking the door and getting in.

Keith watches the car drive off for a minute, kind of lost in thought, before heading back to where he'd parked that morning. He wonders whether Shiro maybe knew people were harassing Lance at school, and if that's what his comment had meant last night. He shrugs and gets into his car, then starts towards home.

He parks on the sidewalk despite the minivan not being there, then heads inside, dropping his keys into the bowl by the door once he's inside. He shuts the door and walks into the living room, tossing his backpack onto it's usual place on the floor and slipping out of his jacket, leaving that on the floor, too. The television is turned on to The Maury Show, and the living room's empty. The garage door was closed so he doesn't know if there's a car in it, but he could've sworn Shiro would be home. He calls out, "Shiro? You around?"

"In the kitchen!" Shiro answers. He appears in the living room doorway a moment later, holding a can of soda. "How was detention?"

"Fantastic," Keith says dryly, throwing himself onto the couch without taking his shoes off. Shiro raises an eyebrow at him and Keith rolls his eyes but takes the shoes off before putting his feet back up on the cushions. Shiro nods and sits down on the armchair, opening up his soda. Keith watches him for a second and then asks, "How long has Lance been getting bullied at school?"

Shiro's eyebrows furrow together and he looks over at Keith in confusion. "What makes you say that?"

"What? That's what you mean last night, wasn't it?"

"Alright, that's a pretty big conclusion to jump to just from my comment," Shiro says, shaking his head as he set the can of soda down on the coffee table. "That's not what I meant at all."

"You mean you didn't know?" Keith asks, raising his eyebrows. Shiro opens his mouth to say something else, but Keith has a bad habit of cutting people off and he interrupts, "I saw it, Shiro. I mean, Lance seemed more annoyed about it than anything else, but they were making fun of him. And it's definitely something they've done before."

"Keith, you're sure?"

"Yes!" Keith sighs, folding his arms across his chest. "I thought you knew."

"Well what did you do? Did you report it?"

"No, I just tried to fight them in the parking lot," Keith says softly. He knows Shiro doesn't approve of his fighting, but in this circumstance, he's pretty sure it's justifiable. Shiro gives him a disapproving look, even if it is less intense than it usually is, and Keith throws his hands up, palm out as a gesture of innocence. "I said tried to! I didn't actually get in a fight, they all just left when I called them out."

"Well, I'm proud of you for standing up for him," Shiro says thoughtfully after a second.

"It had nothing to do with him, but okay."

* * *

The next morning at school Keith's walking in from the parking lot when he hears someone calling his name and stops, turning around to find Lance jogging slightly to catch up to him. Keith frowns but says, "What's up?"

"Can I talk to you real quick?" Lance asks. Then he doesn't even wait for Keith to answer before continuing, "I just. Can you not tell anyone about Rolo yesterday? 'Cause I know you're also friends with Pidge and Allura, and they'll just be all over dramatic about it, and I really don't want them to freak out. I mean, it's not even a big deal. And also we're neighbors, and if you mention it to my family--well, they're really stressed already, I don't need them worrying about me, too. So if you could just. Y'know. Not tell anyone. That'd be great."

Keith narrows his eyes for a second, both wondering whether to agree, and whether or not to mention that he already told Shiro. After a second he says, "Yesterday wasn't a one time thing, was it? They've been harassing you a lot."

"I mean, yeah, but it's fine," Lance says with a scoff. He chuckles slightly and runs a hand through his hair, saying, "They're just idiots. And I mean, it's actually kind of funny, right? But Pidge and Allura won't see it that way, so..."

"Yeah, I don't either," Keith says honestly. But then the smile on Lance's face falters, and Keith thinks the thought of him telling someone might just bother Lance more than Rolo and his friends do, and it makes him second guess whether bringing it up would actually help Lance at all. Knowing school administration, they'd just register the complaint and give the guys detention but not much else, then they might be even worse to Lance for ratting them out. Keith shifts his weight from one foot to the other and asks, "They don't hurt you, do they? Like, they just say stupid shit to you?"

"Yeah," Lance says, nodding earnestly. He laughs slightly, but it might be a nervous one. "And I mean, it's not even hurtful, it's just stupid. They're not worth the trouble."

Keith considers it. On the one hand he's sure that, even if Lance is claiming he's not bothered right now, hearing that dumb shit every day is bound to be hurtful sooner or later. But if they're really not hurting him, and Lance is this determined that Keith not say anything, Keith's not really sure it's his information to give out. He sticks his hands in his jacket pockets and says, "Alright, I won't tell anyone."

"Great! Thanks, you're the man--"

"But," Keith interrupts him, and Lance's relief flickers. "If they actually hurt you, you have to tell me. Or someone else."

"Yeah, of course," Lance says, shrugging nonchalantly.

"We can walk to the parking lot together every now and then, if you want," Keith says lightly. "They might be less likely to bother you if you're not by yourself."

"Thoughtful, but I'll be fine," Lance answers.

Keith shrugs and says without thinking much about it, "I mean, it could also be just for fun. It doesn't have to be 'cause of Rolo. I mean, just if you want to, of course."

Lance looks at Keith silently for a couple of seconds, and Kieth's starting to think he might've said something dumb, because of course Lance doesn't want to hang out with Keith, he thinks Keith throws groceries at him on purpose. But then Lance cracks a smile and says, "Yeah. Yeah, alright. Cool."

"Cool?"

"Cool."

They go their separate ways once they're inside the school, and Keith starts towards his first period with even more to think about. 

 


End file.
